1) Bulls at the gate

There was something symbolic about Bradford confirming their move into administration hours after Jamie Peacock had called time on his distinguished representative career. Peacock was a mainstay, and latterly the captain, of the team who reached five consecutive Super League Grand Finals between 2001 and 2005. His departure to Leeds after the last of those triumphs, at the same time as Leon Pryce went to St Helens and a clutch of other key figures left, was confirmation that the golden era was over at Odsal, and that behind the scenes something was going horribly wrong. Now Chris Caisley, who presided over the Bulls' rise as chairman then left Peter Hood to deal with an inevitable fall, would seem the last hope to steer the club away from liquidation. Bradford fans must hope that if he does lessons have been learned from the not so distant past.

2) Tigers in turmoil

Bradford aren't the only crisis club in the Super League. Castleford are enduring a truly horrendous season, and would seem to have fallen behind their local rivals Wakefield Trinity on and off the field over the past few months. Joe Arundel is definitely off at the end of the season, to Hull, Nick Youngquest is retiring, Daryl Clark has also signalled his desire to leave, and you wouldn't put much money on Rangi Chase hanging around. But all is not lost for Cas, as the remarkable transformation of Trinity over the past 12 months proves. Ian Millward still sounded in reassuringly decent spirits on Monday night's Super League Show, considering the professional frustration he has suffered on top of personal tragedy this year, and he will have the Tigers pumped to win a televised crunch at Widnes on Monday night, when defeat would leave them scrambling to avoid the wooden spoon. The worry for Cas is that they were equally motivated for their Challenge Cup tie at Featherstone back in April – and remember how badly that went.

3) Of friends in the north ...

Some unadulterated good news next, with a rare double boost for the game in Cumbria. First Workington won what sounds like a thrilling derby against Whitehaven at Derwent Park in front of a near-2,000 crowd – the latter not a cause for wild celebrations, but still a big improvement on recent weeks. Then a combined Cumbria team were shock winners of the Rugby League Nines finals night that was staged at Headingley on Tuesday, and provided terrific viewing on Premier Sports. With Barrow also going well in Championship One, all three of the northern county's pro clubs should gain promotion to the expanded Championship next season. Not the Super League place that Cumbria's league heritage would merit, but the next best thing.

4) ... and a flier from the south

The other highlight of the Nines finals night was a win for Omari Caro, a strapping London Broncos wing, in the fastest man sprint, beating off the previous winners Jodie Broughton and Jamal Chisholm. Again, rare cheer in a mostly grim season for the Broncos, but the re-signing of the former Manly wing Michael Robertson this week was a significant statement of intent for next year, after various recent rumours that he would be heading north. London Skolars also claimed a good win at the improving South Wales Scorpions in Championship One last weekend, and Hemel continue to go great guns in the Conference ahead of their move into the pro ranks next year.

5) Irreplaceable?

Back to Peacock, and one statistic that might interest those who argue that British rugby league has entered a steep decline since the halcyon days of the late 80s and early 90s, when it undoubtedly had a larger national media profile through star names such as Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Garry Schofield. Yet Peacock's tally of three Test victories against Australia – in the 2001 Ashes series at Huddersfield, the 2004 Tri-Nations in Wigan and the same competition two years later in Sydney – is one more than either Hanley or Schofield managed in their distinguished representative careers, although Offiah pipped him with four.

6) Hopefully not

Finally, who will now lead England into next year's World Cup? Steve McNamara has said he will announce who will be his captain for the second Exiles game at Huddersfield when he names the team on Monday. But three of the most obvious contenders to succeed Peacock are not available for Wednesday's match because they now play their rugby in Sydney – although all will be key figures in the World Cup campaign.

James Graham may be the favourite having taken over when both Peacock and Adrian Morley were injured on the 2010 Four Nations tour. But proud and passionate Englishman as he is, Graham never seemed to enjoy the peripheral, ambassadorial duties that go with the national captaincy.

Gareth Ellis is a much more amenable, less confrontational character, who would share with Graham the asset of having earned respect in Australia, but is heading home next year to play for Hull.

But my wildcard would be Sam Burgess, perhaps in combination with Sam Tomkins – the two most exciting talents and dominant personalities in the group. Burgess also spends most of his time in Sydney these days, and a worrying amount of it injured. But if he can stay fit, he could be an inspirational leader.